The Founder of Manichaeism: Rethinking the Life of Mani

Iain Gardner; Jason BeDuhn

doi:10.1017/9781108614962

Mani, a third-century preacher, healer and public sage from Sasanian Mesopotamia, lived at a pivotal time and place in the development of the major religions. He frequented the courts of the Persian Empire, debating with rivals from the Judaeo-Christian tradition, philosophers and gnostics, Zoroastrians from Iran and Buddhists from India. The community he founded spread from north Africa to south China and lasted for over a thousand years. Yet the genuine biography of its founder, his life and thought, was in good part lost until a series of spectacular discoveries have begun to transform our knowledge of Mani's crucial role in the spread of religious ideas and practices along the trade-routes of Eurasia. This book utilises the latest historical and textual research to examine how Mani was remembered by his followers, caricatured by his opponents, and has been invented and re-invented according to the vagaries of scholarly fashion.

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Contents

The Founder of Manichaeism
pp i-ii
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The Founder of Manichaeism - Title page
pp iii-iii
Rethinking the Life of Mani
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Dedication
pp v-vi
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Contents
pp vii-vii
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Foreword
pp viii-xx
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Preface
pp xxi-xxiv
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Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Many Lives of Mani
pp 1-17
Inter-Religious Polemic and Scholarly Controversy
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Chapter 2 - Mani’s Background and Early Life
pp 18-36
Who Was He and What Did He Think He Was Doing?
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Chapter 3 - Mani’s Career as the ‘Apostle of Jesus Christ’
pp 37-58
His Missions and the Community He Founded
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Chapter 4 - Mani’s Death
pp 59-82
Inter-Religious Conflict in Early Sasanian Iran and the Memory of the Apostle
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Appendices
pp 83-112
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Appendix A - The Dualistic Basis of Mani’s Thought
pp 83-94
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Appendix B - The Community in Late-Antique Egypt and the Village of Kellis
pp 95-105
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Appendix C - Some Comments on the Manichaean Kephalaia and the ‘Jesus-Book’ in the Chester Beatty Codex
pp 106-112
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References
pp 113-118
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Index
pp 119-120
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The Founder of Manichaeism

Rethinking the Life of Mani

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Contents

The Founder of Manichaeism
pp i-ii

The Founder of Manichaeism - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-vii

Foreword
pp viii-xx

Preface
pp xxi-xxiv

Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Many Lives of Mani
pp 1-17

Chapter 2 - Mani’s Background and Early Life
pp 18-36

Chapter 3 - Mani’s Career as the ‘Apostle of Jesus Christ’
pp 37-58

Chapter 4 - Mani’s Death
pp 59-82

Appendices
pp 83-112

Appendix A - The Dualistic Basis of Mani’s Thought
pp 83-94

Appendix B - The Community in Late-Antique Egypt and the Village of Kellis
pp 95-105

Appendix C - Some Comments on the Manichaean Kephalaia and the ‘Jesus-Book’ in the Chester Beatty Codex
pp 106-112

References
pp 113-118

Index
pp 119-120

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Rethinking the Life of Mani

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